Wire extension means for spring structures



Feb. 8, 1944.

s. e. BLUMENSAADT EIAL WIRE EXTENSION MEANS FOR SPRING STRUCTURES Filed May 6, 1941 WILL mm H- MEL-D 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR5 .smvu 5- awnmsmmr Feb. 8, 1944.

S. G. BLUMENSAADT ETAL WIRE EXTENSION MEANS FOR SPRING STRUCTURES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 6, 1941 ,1 r m w 9 Man 4 MNEMH 5 9 "N w M 5 Q Q E a na T 5 6m. 3 m w m w V w .0. MG Y Patented Feb. 8, 1944 WIRE EXTENSION MEANS FOR SPRING STRUCTURES Svend G. Blumensaadt, Cleveland Heights, and William H. Neely, Cleveland, Ohio, assignors, by mesne assignments, to The Universal Wire Spring Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 6, 1941, Serial No. 392,062 9 Claims. (Cl. 155-179) This invention relates in general to spring structures for seats of upholstered furniture and, more particularly, to spring structures for davenports, sofas, couches, chairs, etc., with seating surfaces having curved front edges. The manufacture of this type of upholstered furniture is complicated and burdensome, as it necessitates individual placing of the springs of the spring structure and special forming and shaping of the front edge wire which outlines the curvature of the front edge. This is also the case when the spring structure of the curved seat of a piece of furniture is assembled from flat springs of sinuous or similar shape, as in such a structure the springs must be of different lengths to obtain the overcome above referred to difficulties and deficiencies in the construction and assembly of spring structures for upholstered furniture with a curved front edge by providing simple and economic front edge extension means adapted to rest on and be attachable to any type of spring structure, so as to give such a structure a curved front edge.

Another object of the invention is the provision of simple, economical and adjustable front edge extension means for spring structures to form same with a curved front edge, the extension means including two or more elements coupled with each other to form a curved front edge and being provided with means for resting on a spring structure and attachment to such structure.

A further object of the invention is the provision of simple, economical, adjustable front edge extension means for spring structures to form same with a curved front edge, the extension means being assembled from two or more symmetrically arranged, partly overlapping elements shiftably arranged with respect to each other to give the extension means the desired width and provided with means for resting on a spring structure and attachment to such structure.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of'simple and economical wire extension means for spring structures to form same with a curved front edge, the wire extension means being assembled from a plurality of wire elements coupled with each other to form extension means with a curved front edge andv supporting and attachment means adapted to rest the extension means 'on a wire structure and secure said means to such a wire structure.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of simple, economical and adjustable horizontally arranged, rearwardly extended, corrugated portions adapted to rest on a spring structure and secure the assembled extension means to such a spring structure.

In addition the invention has certain other marked superiorities which radically distinguish it from presently known structures. These improvements, embodying certain novel features of construction, are moreclearly set forth in the following specification and the appended claims; and a preferred emb diment of the invention is hereinafter shown wi h reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a spring structure assembled from fiat wire springs of sinuous shape .and a forwardly extended, curved front edge member made of wire elements constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the spring structure shown in Fig. 1, the section being taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the two elements of a front edge member, the elements being arranged in adjustable, overlapping relation, and one of these elements being shown in full line and the other one in dotted line to clearly disclose their adjustability with respect to each other.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a single one of the wire elements used in the construction of the ad Justable front edge member.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a somewhat simplified form of the wire element shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a plan view, partly broken away, of a spring structure assembled from flat wire springs of sinuous shape embodying a forwardly extended front edge member of somewhat modified construction.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view through the structure shown in Fig. 6, the section being taken on 1, made of sinuously shaped or horizontally corrugated steel wire. These springs, each include downwardly inclined v-shaped front and rear supporting means 8 and 9 respectively, adapted to support the proper seatin portion ill of each spring in an elevated position. The front supporting means or supporting arm 8 has its upper lever ll bent and upwardly offset at l2 to facilitate forward and upward inclination of the front part l4 of the seating portion In of the spring and form an elevated front edge on the seating portion, all for the purpose of eliminating the slow-and costly attachment of special means for building a roll edge at the front of the spring seat structure and give proper support to the legs of a person sitting on a finished furniture piece and properly support the customary seat cushions in such a fashion that these cushions do not slip from their support. The lower free ends of supporting arms 8 and 8 are formed with angular offsets I8 and secured to front and rear rails 4 and 5 by means of staples l1.

Springs 1, which, as described, are rigidly secured to frame 8, are interconnected to a substantially unitary seating surface l8 by means of a front edge wire IS, a rear edge wire and a central wire brace 2|, and all these wires are secured to the springs by clips 22. In addition, the two outside springs 1", each are reenforced and stiffened by steel wire reenforcing members 28, which members are interwoven with the loops of said springs. These members 23, which each consist of a wire embodying in its central portion and its end portions downwardly extended paratlel offsets 24 dimensioned to effect alternate contact of each wire member 23 with the top and bottom faces of the respective springs 1', are held in proper interlocking position with springs 1' by the hook-shaped ends 25 of the wire brace 2| so that all the elements of the seating surface It are properly anchored.

.' The thus constructed spring seat structure 2 embodies a forwardly extended, curved front edge member 26 which gives the seat structure a curved, forwardly extended front edge. This member 28 is made of two equally constructed steel wire elements 21 of ldentlca1 construction, arranged in overlapping, symmetrical relationship with respect to each other by reversing one element with respect to the other one. Each ele. ment 21 embodies a curved front portion 28 having a rearwardly extended U-shaped offset or theoverall lengthofthemembertothedesired length.

Edge member 28 rests upon front edge wire I! and is secured to two of the springs! by clips I8. which clips secure straight portions 84 of elements 21 to said springs. In addition. L-shaped extensions 80 rest with their end parts II on springs? and are secured by clips 85 to springs 1'. Preferably part 3| and portion 84 are parallelly offset with respect to each other to avoid a hinge connection between spring structure 2 and the front edge member 28.

The wire element 38 shown in Fig. 5 is identical in construction with element 21, with the exception that the rear extension 29 of element 21 is shortened so that both ends of element 86 are formed with L-shaped extensions, a con-- struction which simplified the wire element without interfering with its adjustability and usability.

The above described construction of the front edge member can readily be used for chairs of different width, as these members may quickly be adjusted to any desired width and are of specific use in the construction 'of curved front edges for sofas, davenports, etc., having uneven numbers of springs and a plurality of curves as the construction of the adjustable extension members permits of readily dividing the front edge of a sofa or davenport to the desired number of curves, and also permits of diiferentiation in the length of these curves.

In the modified form of the spring structure shown in Figs. 6 through '7, springs 1 and 1' on frame 8 are coupled with each other by a single edge wire member 31 interwoven with springs 1' and coupled with all the springs by clips 38. This edge wire member 31 supports on its front edge 88 a wire extension member 40 embodying an edge wire element 4| and a supporting and attachment wire element 42 coupled with element 4| by means of clips 43. Wire element 4| includes a curved front portion 44 and rearwardly extended, oppositely arranged L-shaped portions 45 which have their free ends 48 coupled with springs 1 by means of clips 41. Wire element 42 is shorter than element 4| and has arranged in its curved front portion 48, which fits the curvature of front portion 44, two rearwardly extended U-shaped portions 49, 49'. These portions rest with their rearwardly extended flanges 50, BI and 58', II on the front edge 38 of edge wire member 31 and have their straight portions 52 coupled with two of the springs 1 by means of clips 53.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim 'is:

1. In a spring construction for upholstered furniture and the like a spring structure including a plurality of springs and a front edge wire member coupling said springs with each other,

" and extension means for said spring structure placed with their front portions 28 in partly overlapping relationship and when secured to each other by clips 32, form the curved front edge member 28 (see Fig. 3 which shows one element in full line and the other element in dash-dotted line), which member by shifting of elements 21 with respect to each other permits changing of seated on said front edge wire and extended forwardly and rearwardly thereof, said extension means including co-operating elements coupled with each other in an area in front of the edge wire member each of said elements including rearwardly extended portions directly coupled with some of the springs of said spring structure in an area rearwardly of said edge wire member.

2. In a spring construction for upholstered furniture and the like a spring structure including a plurality of springs and a front edge wire member coupling said springs with each other, and extension means for said spring structure seated on said front edge wire and extended forwardly and rearwardly thereof,'said extension means including a plurality of symmetrically shaped elements having forwardly extended portions aligned and coupled witheach other in an area in front of the edge wire member and said elements each including rearwardly extended portions coupled with some of the springs of said spring structure in an area rearwardly of said edge wire member. 1

3. In a spring construction for upholstered furniture and the like a spring structure including a plurality of springs and a front edge wire member coupling said springs with each other, and a wire extension means for said spring structure seated on said front edge wire and extended forwardly and rearwardly thereof, said wire extension means including wire elements having symmetrically arranged portions coupled with each other in overlapping relationship in front of said edge wire member each of said wire elements including rearwardly extended portions coupled with some of the springs of said spring structure rearwardly of said edge wire member.

4. In a spring construction for upholstered furniture and the like a spring structure including a plurality of springs and a front edge wire member coupling said springs with each other, and a wire extension means for said spring structure seated on said front edge wire, said wire extension means being forwardly and rearwardly extended of said front edge wire and coupled with some of the springs of the spring structure and including identically constructed, partly overlapping wire elements arranged symmetrically and in reversed position with respectto each other and said spring structure.

5. A wire element for wire extension means of spring structures comprising a wire member bent to form a U-shaped rearward extension near its one end and an L-shaped rearward extension at its other end, said L-shaped extension having its free end directed toward said U-shaped extension.

6. A wire element for wire extension means of spring structures comprising a wire member bent to form a U-shaped rearward extension near its One end and an l.-shaped rearward extension at its other end, said L-shaped extension having its tion, each of said elements being formed of a wire bent to form a curved portion, a U-shaped rearward extension in said curved portion near its one end and an L-shaped rearward extension at its other end.

8. A wire extension means for spring structures comprising a plurality of wire elements having partly overlapping front portions coupled with each other and forming a substantiallycontinuous front edge for said wire extension means and having rearwardly extended supporting portions forming supporting and attachment means for the wire extension means when seated upon and attached to a spring structure in forwardly extended relation with respect thereto.

9. A wire extension. means for spring structures comprising two, identically constructed, wire elements coupled with each other in partly overlapping reversed relation, said wire elements including front portions coupled with each other in partly overlapping relation and rearwardly extended supporting portions forming supporting and attachment means for said wire extension means when seated upon and attached to a spring structure in forwardly extended relation with respect thereto.

SVEND G. BLUNLENSAADT. WILLIAM H. NEELY. 

